Facebook: Homophobic?

Recently, I heard news that a photographer had to remove an image off of Facebook a few weeks ago because of the lesbian content. The internationally known Renée Jacobs has a page on Facebook that displays her work and upcoming events. She had posted an ad for her next show, which featured two nude women embracing. The photo was not vulgar and the important parts of the body were actually intelligently concealed.

Why the uproar Facebook? There are countless candid photos of girls making out, grabbing each other, and countless pictures of barely dressed women grinding up on other women. Before I continue, after a campaign to reinstate the photographer’s page Facebook allowed Jacobs to return. But the damage has been done – to my knowledge this is the second time the site has removed a photo that demonstrates homosexual conduct. There was recent news of a photo being taken down that featured two men kissing (featured below, right). And then the infamous And Then Came Lola ad Facebook rejected last year.

According to the “Terms of Service” on the site nothing “pornographic, contains nudity or is inappropriately sexual” may be posted on any Facebook page. That is a hard rule to monitor with the millions of people associated with the site, so again, why out of all the other ‘candid’ shots on the site, was this one singled out? I never use this word loosely, but it must be a case of homophobia with Facebook.

Thank you FB for allowing people to put “in a civil union” or “in a domestic partnership” as their relationship status but removing hand-picked pictures due to tame homosexual conduct leaves me questioning the integrity of the site. It seems that these photos are initially flagged as inappropriate, which alerts the administrators who make the final decision. Fortunately, all photos mentioned above have been allowed to come back to Facebook, so why am I still complaining? It leaves a sour taste in my mouth about the type of people who work at this multi-million dollar company. A site as popular and influential as this should be more careful.